A relaxed, self-assured
Mitt Romney
sailed above the fray at a crucial debate on Saturday night as his Republican rivals engaged in a spirited fight to determine which of them would emerge as his most formidable rival when the party’s nominating contest moves past New Hampshire.

Mr Romney, who had been bracing for an onslaught of attacks, brushed aside a critique about his time buying and selling companies at his investment firm. He defended his record as Massachusetts governor with ease, fielding only occasional questions about his controversial healthcare law.

But Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who is fighting to become the leading conservative alternative to Mr Romney, warned Republicans that Mr Romney’s pedigree would make it more difficult to push back against the income equality argument that is a central theme of President
Barack Obama
’s re-election strategy.

“There are no classes in America," said Mr Santorum, referring to his own blue-collar background as he needled Mr Romney for referring to the middle class.

“The idea that somehow or another we’re going to buy into the class warfare argument of Barack Obama is something that should not be part of the Republican lexicon."

In his quest to emerge as the last Republican standing to challenge Mr Romney, Mr Santorum seemed to strike the right conservative notes on abortion and the Constitution, but he often became entangled in long exchanges with other candidates competing for the same slot.

The candidates gathered at St Anselm College just outside Manchester three days before the New Hampshire primary moves the Republican Party one step closer to selecting a nominee. The evening unfolded with far more civility than many previous debates, with the candidates largely avoiding terse exchanges with Mr Romney.

The only sustained critique of Mr Romney came from
Newt Gingrich
, the former House speaker, who was asked whether he agreed with an anti-Romney video being promoted by a “super PAC" supporting Mr Gingrich that claimed Mr Romney destroyed jobs while at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he helped start.

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While Mr Gingrich said he had not seen the video, he said that he agreed, adding that Mr Romney was “enamoured of a Wall Street model where you can flip companies, you can go in and have leveraged buyouts, you can basically take out all the money, leaving behind the workers".

Mr Romney replied that it was an attack he might expect to hear from Democrats and that Bain created 100,000 net jobs when he was there.

The debate, sponsored by ABC News and Yahoo!, was to be followed on Sunday morning by a special edition of NBC’s Meet the Press with all of the candidates.

“Why even stop?" Mr Romney joked at a campaign stop. “Why not just go right straight through?"

Mr Romney, who holds a lead of about 20 points in several polls in New Hampshire, may have had the most to lose from the extended exposure. But despite the harsh criticism leading up to the debate, with his rivals making boastful promises to try to tear him down, he seemed to emerge largely unscathed and appeared far more relaxed than in previous debates, showing no signs of the agitation that he displayed throughout the northern autumn.

He glided with ease through constitutional issues surrounding same-sex marriage, contraception and abortion, drawing laughter and applause when he suggested that those questions were not the most important matters of the day.

As the field narrowed to six after the Iowa caucuses, with Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota dropping out, Mr Santorum took his first turn at the centre of the stage. He was also the subject of criticism, with Representative Ron Paul of Texas declaring: “You’re a big spender. That’s all there is to it."

A prolonged exchange broke out between Mr Paul and Mr Santorum, who are battling to be the leading alternative to Mr Romney on Tuesday and beyond. At one point, a microphone on the debate stage ­echoed loudly and Mr Santorum tried to lighten the moment. “They caught you not telling the truth, Ron," he said with a smile.

For his part, Mr Romney seemed more than happy to let them go, saying: “I don’t want to be critical of people on this stage."

But three days out from the New Hampshire primary, time was quickly running short for some of the Republican candidates to make their case. Jon Huntsman, who has been lagging in the polls and has staked his candidacy on the outcome here, passed on nearly every invitation to criticise the others.

He highlighted his experience creating jobs while he was governor of Utah, saying: “It’s important for ­people to look at our records."

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, who has bowed out of actively competing here, arrived on Saturday to try once again to resurrect his candidacy in advance of the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21. He was not called upon to speak until 15 minutes into the debate.

As he sought to make a mark, Mr. Perry went as far as to say that American troops should return to Iraq, calling the recent withdrawal “a huge error for us."

Mr. Gingrich, who has spent much of the last week complaining about attacks from the other campaigns, had pledged to go aggressively after Mr. Romney. But he barely followed through, instead drawing applause by criticizing the news media.

But early in the debate, Mr. Gingrich repeatedly referred to an article that he said appeared in The New York Times “two days ago," about a company bought by Bain. During the time that Bain owned the company, it laid off hundreds of workers. But Mr. Gingrich appears to have misspoken, as he was apparently referring to a Jan. 6 article by Reuters.

At the 14th Republican debate of the primary season, the change in the dynamic was evident all evening. After getting only limited time during previous debates, Mr. Santorum and Mr. Paul took more questions and went after each other with new intensity.

“You’re a big-government conservative," Mr. Paul told Mr. Santorum, referring to his votes for the No Child Left Behind Act during George W. Bush’s presidency and Mr. Bush’s Medicare prescription drug benefit. “To say you’re a conservative, I think it’s a stretch, but you’ve convinced a lot of people of it."

Mr. Santorum shot back: “I think I’ve convinced a lot of people of it because I think my record is pretty good," adding, “I’m not a libertarian Ron, I agree with you. You vote against everything; I don’t vote against everything."

In one of the most personal clashes of the evening, Mr. Paul and Mr. Gingrich fought over military service. Mr. Gingrich said he was married and had a child, so he did not join the military as a young man. Mr. Paul said that he, too, had children, and when he was drafted, “I went."

Through it all, Mr. Romney was silent for several minutes at a time. He turned from side to side and watched his fellow Republican candidates. When he did speak, he seemed eager to look beyond the primary and turn the conversation to a condemnation of Mr. Obama’s handling of the economy.

“The president is trying to take responsibility for the economy," Mr. Romney said in response to a question about signs of improving job growth. “It’s like the rooster taking responsibility for the sunrise — he didn’t do it."